


Davey and Spot Reach an Agreement

by jackwantstoseizethedavey



Series: Davey and Spot Reach an Agreement [1]
Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Anxiety, Background Relationships, Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, M/M, Robbery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-15
Updated: 2017-04-15
Packaged: 2018-10-19 01:37:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10629465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jackwantstoseizethedavey/pseuds/jackwantstoseizethedavey
Summary: This is my first foray into fanfiction, so I’d love to hear back from any of you guys about what you think.This is not Davey/Spot. The way I see it in this au Spot and Race are already a thing and Jack/Davey are on their way. Although this is not a love story, I just want to make it clear. Race and Jack aren’t actually in the story other than being mentioned.I like to see Davey and Spot interacting and getting past their initial dislike of each other and becoming friends. So this is at least the start of that.I’m definitely willing to write more of this if people are interested, so please let me know.





	

"How are you doing Spot?"

 

Spot considers answering Davey’s dumb question for a second, but decides he has too many things to do than make idle chit chat with Jacky-boy's buddy.

"What do you want mouth, I got business that needs attending to," looking up from his tallying of today’s sales to look at where Davey was standing.

Some of his boys weren't doing so good, and he was going to have to figure out if he'd have to rotate selling assignments, pair people up differently, or if he needed to have some one on one conversations with them about just what they were getting up to instead of selling. It was frustrating.

Since far too early in the morning, this day had just been one thing after another, and the last thing he wanted was to have to entertain someone he wasn't crazy about.

 

Davey kept shifting from foot to foot, staring around Spot’s small room in the Brooklyn lodging house. Tiny would be generous, cramped would be more accurate. The small desk had a notebooks and loose stacks of paper piled all around it, and the sagging bed by the window was clean and made neatly. But the blanket looked so threadbare, that Davey wasn’t sure that it would survive another washing, let alone the winter season that would be quickly approaching. Regardless, Davey could definitely appreciate that what it lacked in size, it more than made up for by having a door.

 

"Ummm...."

The silence stretched on as Davey looked around and Spot waited for him to start talking, which didn't look like it was going to happen as soon as he would like. 

 

Wanting to get this over with as quickly as possible Spot prompted, more politely than he typically would.

"Come on, get on with it, I don't want to spend my time staring at you"

"Well umm... you see, I uh.... I need your help" Dave managed to get out

"Well, I didn't think you were here on a social visit, so tell me what you want. You're taking up my time here. If you're here to ask a favor for Jacky-boy, I swear I'll-"

"NO!" Davey yelled, cutting Spot off, before catching himself. “That’s not it at all.”

All Davey could think, is that he wasn’t starting this off well.

 

If the look spot was giving him was any indication, he wasn't helping himself earn any points with the only person who'd be able to help him out now. So he tried to start again.

"Jack absolutely can't know that I'm here…..Please.” Holding eye contact with Spot, he was relieved to find that it didn't look like he was a second away from getting punched. Instead he had the look Davey had been expecting, suspicious and confused, but not entirely angry.

"You know I can't just go sneaking around another leaders back if-"

"I know, I know- but this isn't newsie business-"

“I don’t care what kind of business-”

“Wait! Just let me-”

"Mouth, if you interrupt me one more time, I'm gonna soak you" and he would, he'd been spoiling for a fight all day. And if there was one thing Spot hated more than anything else, it was being cut off.

"I'm sorry Spot," Davey said trying to keep himself from fidgeting again, "Just please let me explain, it'll make sense if I can just get it all out, I promise."

 

Spot thought he really should just throw him out.

Then maybe he could do his work, and finally finish that penny dreadful he'd borrowed from Blink the week before, and then go downstairs for dinner.

Sighing, he forced himself to give Davey one more chance. He didn’t want or need to have to smooth ruffled feathers in Manhattan for throwing the big mouth out.

"Hurry up and explain....and it better be good." Spot ordered.

Settling back in his chair, he hoped he wasn't about to get himself in a tight spot with Jack, if this was something he had to share. He wasn't about to risk a good alliance over something someone was trying to drag him into.

 

"Okay," taking a deep breath Davey decided to get it over with, the last thing he needed was to have to go back to Manhattan and figure out a different plan, he didn't think his nerves could take it, so he’d have to make this work.

"I need your help getting something back, you see uh, umm... I had a situation happen and something for taken from me and I need to get it back before anyone notices I don't have it anymore."

Even as he finished saying it, he knew he'd done a bad job pleading his case. This was going so differently than the conversation he had practiced in his head on the way over.

 

Spot got up out of his chair.

He was done listening to whatever stupidity Dave wanted to waste his limited time on.

No one could say he didn’t offer a shot.

Grabbing Dave's arm and pushing against his side he went to turn him to escort him out of his lodging house. But as soon as his hand met Dave’s left side, the other boy jumped back yelping, bringing a hand to cover where his ribs were.

Taking some deep breaths and grimacing, he looked over where Spot still had a hand stretched out towards where he had been standing. He could feel a cold sweat breaking out, the combination of the pain and his nervousness was making him dizzy and he slumped to the ground and pressed his head to his knees.

 

Narrowing his eyes, Spot stepped towards Davey, because whatever this was, it wasn't good, and as much as Davey was annoying him right now, this was enough to get him worried. He may not have always cared to hang out with the guy, not matter how much Jack and Race liked him, but it was obvious something more serious was going on. And he wasn’t heartless, the kid looked like he was going to cry, and as much as Spot thought Davey was too soft, he did think this was some odd overreaction.

Spot tried not to think about how he never could turn down someone who looked so sad, whether it was one of the little kids who weren’t adjusting too well, or one of his older boys who were going through a rough patch and needed a shoulder.

 

"Please, _please,_ I'm not sure where else I can go." Davey mumbled into his knees.

Sighing, Spot knelt down, “Dave, are you hurt? You need to tell me what's wrong, then I’ll see how I can help.”

When that didn’t get any response, he grit his teeth and tried to think of something to get the guy talking.

“Look, you have to let me know what’s going on, if it's important I’ll help you sort it out, and I won’t tell Jack,” he kept his voice as even and soft as he could, and patted himself on the back when Dave looked up, looking more pulled together.

 

“Okay… shit….I’m having some problems at school, you see, uh… this guy, well these guys…well they took my watch…..And yeah I'm hurt but it's not too bad.” Looking up he felt something loosen when Spot didn’t look like he was going to start laughing.

“Wait, what? …..Why would they want to take something from you? I thought you liked school?”

“Yeah, you see, well...school isn’t exactly the problem. You see, umm... the school I go to, isn’t exactly where some people think I belong, and ever since I went back they’ve been worse about letting me know.” Davey had a hard time getting the words out about being made to know exactly what his classmates thought about having to interact with a poor Jewish boy who had a big mouth, and didn’t seem to understand his place.

By the time he continued he could feel his mouth drying up.

“And you know I could take being excluded and the laughing behind my back, but yesterday they, well they must of got bored and decided to try something new,” stopping to breathe, he made himself focus on whether Spot was following. And, oh yeah, he _definitely_ was paying attention, which gave him the nerve he needed to keep going.

 

“Some guys snuck up on me, and they uh…well...hit me real good and robbed me... took my pocket watch. They didn't think I saw their faces, but I-I recognized their voices, they weren't really subtle….. they, um, they kept talking about how they saw it as their responsibility to show me that I shouldn’t think I’m better than they are, trying to be smarter than everyone else… walking around with my nose in the air-“ a loud snort stopped Davey short.

“Sounds like that school of yours has a bunch of morons in there. You know, I may not think the sun shines outta your ass like Jack does, but I ain’t delusional. You’ve never been a stuck up prick.” And that was true, there’s no way Davey would go through the hassle of explaining grammar to Tumbler, who could barely read, or helping Mush practice his adding and subtracting if he was half as bad as all that.

“Thanks Spot, I really appreciate that”, Davey croaked out, he could say that was one of the nicest things he’d heard from Spot, probably the entire time they’d known each other. He felt his eyes getting watery and looked back at his knees.

 

Spot wasn’t sure he liked how sincere Dave sounded, it made his stomach turn to know that him saying something that wasn’t even really a compliment could make someone sound so… he knew happy wasn’t the right word, maybe pleased…. something like that anyways. Trying to move the conversation back on topic Spot asked,

“If they was hitting you, why didn’t you hit back?” In Spots opinion, a good fist to the face could get a lot settled, he didn't see why it couldn't help Davey.

"One of the boys is the headmasters nephew, he's the one who has it, and another is…. well his father is the foreman at the factory where my dad works now. I can't go accusing these guys of robbing me, no matter what I could say, no one would take my side. And I can't risk getting kicked out of school by fighting. And I don't know what could happen with my dad. And damn it….. I can't just let everything my family's been sacrificing to send me to school be wasted....."

 

Spot thought he was getting a good idea of where this was going, but he needed to make sure he had it clear.

"Well if you can't do anything about it, what do you want with me?"

“Well, It wouldn't have been such a big deal if they had taken something small, but that watch, my parents gave it to me for my Bar Mitzvah, it-“

“What’s a Bar Miza?” That was definitely a word Spot hadn’t heard before.

“Mitz-vah” Davey tried enunciate clearly

“Mitz-vah, Bar Mitzvah?” Spot parroted back

“Yeah, you got it.... Well a Bar Mitzvah is…. it’s basically a boy being welcomed into the Jewish community as an adult. It’s a big ceremony, you get to go up in front of everyone at the synagogue and read a passage in Hebrew.” Davey explained.

“Anyway, for mine, my parents gave me my grandfather’s gold pocket watch. My mother brought it all the way from Poland with her. It’s one of the few things she has to remember him by. It’s also one of the most valuable things my family has and, and...well I don’t know what my parents would do if I had to tell them I lost it.”

 

“So you want me to help you get back this watch? Why don’t you just get Jack and the guys to jump the bums and take it back?”

"Jack likes to wait for me after school some days, they’ve seen me with him." It wasn’t even close to every day but it never failed to make Davey smile to know that Jack would work his day around his school schedule. It made even the worst day better, just because he knew that no matter what was going on Jack would always be excited to see him.

"I can't risk having anything come back to Jack”, taking his cap off and running a hand through his hair, he went on. “I don't even want to think about what might happen to him if I drag him into this and he got caught.” Davey would never be able to forgive himself.

 

He could see where Davey was coming from, but Spot would be mad at himself if he didn't make one last, admittedly half-hearted, attempt to get out of this.

“You can't know that Jack’d lose his marbles over this whole thing.”

The blank look from Dave was impressive.

“We both know that Jack's the one who's responsible for Oscar and Morris getting their faces beat in after the strike. Don't try and tell me he wouldn't do the exact same thing to these guys.”

He couldn’t deny that was true. Spot had seen them about a week after that, and he had to say that while he thought they deserved it, his jaw had ached when he'd seen Oscar face.

 

Everyone was still pretty messed up from the bulls getting ahold of them but there were a few new injuries that had appeared a couple of days later.

Jack’s busted, swollen knuckles were noticeable for a long time after. Race had a cut on his leg that had to be bandaged for a couple of weeks, and while Blink didn't really look any worse for wear, he had been in a bigger mood than usual until all of Crutchie’s bruises were gone.

But considering what happened with Crutchie and the Jacobs’s, well, Spot would have helped out if Jack had asked.

He had had to content himself by getting the whole story from Race late one afternoon when they were walking through Brooklyn.

Spot nodded his head, conceding.

 

Davey, having made his point clear continued.

“I tried approaching Race first, but I didn’t even get halfway through before he was trying to go get Jack. It took me almost half an hour to get him to stop.” If he hadn’t have almost passed out, which caused Race to stop and force Davey to let him look at his ribs, he wouldn’t have managed.

 

He had been truly nauseous when he had seen the Delancy’s, and while there was no love between them, he never wanted to play any part in something like that happening to another person. He couldn't bring himself to tell Jack that he shouldn’t have done it, he understood where Jack was coming from, but violence had never been something he liked. No matter how Sarah had tried to justify it to him later.

And even though it ribs hurt something fierce and he was upset, Davey firmly believed that no one needed to get hit in order for him to get this resolved.

“Race said he wouldn’t go behind Jack’s back, that Jack had made it clear to everyone that anything to do with me was his business.” Davey still wasn’t sure if he should feel flattered or insulted, but he sure felt something when he heard that. “But even though he didn’t want to, he ended up promising not to say anything if I got this handled on my own, so long as the trouble didn’t continue, Race wouldn’t feel obligated to say something.”

 

Spot was actually kind of proud of Jack, for a guy who didn't think his boys needed real leadership, he had managed to get enough respect from his guys to keep them from going behind his back. But Spot guessed that was part of the appeal of Jack for his boys, he doesn’t ask for much, so when he did, his guys took him seriously and regarded his wishes.

“You know, there’s a good chance Race already told on you,” he was a great friend, and loyal as all hell, but Race would break a promise if he thought it was for the right reasons.

That thought had occurred to Davey, as much as he didn't like it.

“Race will let it sit for a day or two to see if I change my mind, if anything else happens, well I don’t have any control over it. …...But if I can get the watch back soon and make sure Race sees it, then nothing ever has to get back to Jack.” It wasn’t a perfect plan, but this is what he had.

“Well, this is a good story and all, but where do I comes into this?” Spot wasn’t going to volunteer, if this was something that he was going to be involved with, he was going to make Dave ask.

 

“I need you to get it back.”

That’s what Spot had been waiting for.

“And why should I do that? What benefit do I get outta this?” He needed to have a better idea of what he would be getting into. He was going to say yes, but more information, and letting Davey sweat, would make him feel less like he was doing this out of the kindness of his heart.

“They’re pretty wealth people, I don’t care if you take anything else while you’re there, just please get back my watch.”

 

Well that sure as hell wasn’t what he had been expecting. It took Spot a moment to get his bearings back.

“Really? For someone who's so against some losers getting soaked, you don’t care about me robbing some fine folks blind?”

He’d been expecting to get offered some money, maybe a damn favor to cash in later, more begging even. Definitely not free run to rob some people.

 

Davey had been dwelling on this. Since meeting the newsies, and the whole strike business, his black and white world was getting a whole lot more grey. His parents would hate this if they ever found out. But he was beginning to learn that he could form his own opinions based on what he was seeing out in the world, and that they wouldn’t always line up with what he had been taught.

Jack had opened his eyes to a lot of things, and to be honest, Davey could live this decision, more than any of the others.

Twisting his cap in his hands, Davey went in for what he hoped would seal the deal.

“I don’t have any other options here, there’s no way i’d be able to do it myself. And if you’re taking a lot from the place, no one’s going to care about some watch. And trust me when I say that if they were good people, I wouldn’t be suggesting it.”

The guy lived with his uncle. All he liked to talk about was how nice the big apartment he lived in was. Also how important his uncle was that he got paid so much a week that they had trouble spending it all, and that all the money was kept in his uncle’s office in a locked drawer. Which made Davey figure that if the guy was too stupid not to spread around information like that, no one specific person could be pointed to if it went missing.

The headmaster was a snobby, arrogant man and his nephew was exactly the same.

He never had forgotten that when he was interviewing for the school, how determined the headmaster had been to give Davey’s mother a tour.

To say that Davey wasn’t fond of either of them would be putting it lightly. And if anyone deserved to get taken from, they would be at the top of the list. Thinking about that reaffirmed Davey’s resolve that this could work, it had to.

“And I know anything you take will go towards helping your boys. It's going to get colder soon and I'm sure what you take would help out getting them coats or boots, or whatever else they might need.”

 

Spot hadn’t forgotten that Davey really did have a way with words, but it had been a long while since he had seen it in action. He could see the appeal the guy had to Jack, he had a way of phrasing things with conviction that just made you want to see things from his perspective. But Spot had met people like that before and while he knew Davey didn't necessarily mean for it to be manipulative, he would have to keep an eye on him in the future.

He did actually have a fund for his boys set aside to handle things that might pop up, but the prospect of padding it a little, well... it was more appealing than he wanted to lead on. If this was as lucrative as it seemed like it could be, he might even be able to get Race something nice for Christmas, without having to break into his personal savings like he had to the year before.

In fact, he was half tempted to bring a guy or two along with him to help him carry more. But he wouldn't risk it getting out that he would be going to someone else's turf to do something like this.

He'd have to either find cash, or he'd have to take things that would be easy enough to fence to the local gangs. He kept a good relationship with everyone one he could. It was a mutually beneficial relationship. He and his boys would pass along information and play lookout, and in return he didn't have to worry about any of his guys getting a shake down or smacked around.

 

With Spot being silent for so long, Davey was starting to get concerned that he had overstepped by implying that Spot needed help taking care of his guys. He wasn't sure if he should apologize or let his righteous anger continue to carry him forward. Before he could drive himself even more crazy, Spot finally started talking.

“You'll have to come with me to be the lookout.”

The relief Davey felt was immediately replaced with dread as he registered the whole sentence.

“Huh? Wh-why… I don't know if that's a good idea..?” He could just imagine all the ways that this could go wrong.

“Don't be a chicken, if I'm going to do it, you're doing it too.”

“How? You do realize that I have to go to school, people will notice if I'm missing the day this happens.” The whole point was to make sure no one thought he had a part in this.

“I don't care, play sick, ditch, do whatever you have to…. no actually we’ll do it tomorrow night, there problem solved.” Reaching out to smack Daveys shoulder, Spot stood up and circled back around to his desk to start writing down his thoughts. He liked to write things out to organize his ideas. He could work with nighttime better, and he wouldn't have to explain to Jack why he was passing through.

Getting slowly to his feet Davey thought that was a fair enough compromise, and as much as he wanted to try and argue that he should stay away from it….Spot had agreed, and that was what he wanted……..he couldn't get picky now. Still he felt compelled to at least ask,

“Won't we be taking a big risk going in while everyone's there?”

“Do you want to do this or not?” Spot didn't need him to chicken out now, he had a good idea about how he was going to do this.

 

Knowing that if he pushed too hard, he might start having new problems, Davey decided he would have to trust that Spot knew what he was doing. The whole reason he came here in the first place was because he knew if Spot decided to help him, it would get done, he just needed to keep reminding himself of that instead of thinking of the alternatives.

“Okay, okay…. what do you need me to do?”

Leaning back in his chair Spot thought for a second. “I'll meet you tomorrow afternoon to see the place and then I'll have a better idea of where I'll want you.”

“Oh, okay, I, uh, get out at 3 so I'll see you around then?”

“Yep, see you around.”

Taking that as a dismissal, Davey turned to escort himself out. He stopped and turned back around though when Spot continued,

“Hey, and just because I'm getting something out of this, doesn't mean you won't still owe me. You understand the risk I'm running with going over to Manhattan to do this right?”

Davey nodded, he'd worry about what that would be later.

“Thanks Spot, I really can't thank you enough for this, you're really saving my neck.”

 

The prospect of doing something dangerous always got Spot’s blood pumping, and an easy payday only helped. So smiling more genuinely than he probably ought to be, he replied, “Yeah, yeah. Now get the hell out of here before I rethink this and go tell our old buddy what you're getting up to.”

Feeling a hundred times better, Davey grinned and made his way out the door and back across the bridge. He was so relieved at the whole situation being on it's way to being resolved, that he figured he would have just enough time to swing by the lodging house and talk Jack into coming to dinner before he had to be home.


End file.
